How To Become A Horse Trainer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a horse trainer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a horse trainer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.32 an hour? That's $33,943 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 101,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHorse TrainerUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $33,943

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate 28%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.14%

Asian 1.66%

Black or African American 4.40%

Hispanic or Latino 14.48%

Unknown 7.09%

White 72.22%

Gender

female 66.97%

male 33.03%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.3

Complexity Level is basic

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

9.3

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a horse trainer

Explore horse trainer education requirements

Most common horse trainer degrees

Bachelor's

45.2 %

High School Diploma

23.1 %

Associate

20.8 %

Start to develop specific horse trainer skills

Skills	Percentages
Lesson Program	23.95%
Pleasure	14.03%
Training Programs	9.42%
General Care	8.39%
Training Methods	7.30%

Complete relevant horse trainer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New horse trainers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a horse trainer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real horse trainer resumes.

Research horse trainer duties and responsibilities

Ensure that USDA and AZA guidelines are met.
Acquire knowledge in animal husbandry, natural history, and animal conditioning principles through reading materials and participating in training sessions.
Assure proper annotation of administrative MWD utilization and training records used for legal reviews.

Prepare your horse trainer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your horse trainer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a horse trainer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Horse Trainer Resume templates

Build a professional Horse Trainer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Horse Trainer resume.

Apply for horse trainer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a horse trainer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do horse trainers rate their job?